Jordan is tied for 10th place after Day one of the Hurricane National Championship shooting +4 in what would be one of the wildest rounds she had ever played. (Click for details and pics).

The day was filled with highs and lows and she will go into tomorrow only 5 strokes off the leader. During the round today she was as low as 38th on the leaderboard as of the 12th hole and as high as 5th place after 15 holes only 2 strokes out of the lead. For those who followed the leaderboard today it was a mountain of confusion as to what happened so we will explain it in detail. Let’s get into the specifics…..

Holes one, two, and three were all pars with a great up and down on three.

Four was a mess. It started with a drive into the right fairway bunker. Coming out of the sand B mishit the ball a bit which should have just made it so that she simply did not hit the green. Unfortunately, there was second rake in the sand tucked up under the lip that she and Carl had not seen. Had she hit the ball cleanly, the rake would never have come into play but there was actually sand behind the ball so she was not able to get the blade on it cleanly. Anyway, the ball ended up hitting the rake on its way out changing the trajectory and sending it into the woods never to be seen again. Now Jordan had to drop a ball and was hitting her fourth stroke just to get on the green. She would two putt for double bogey now putting her at +2.

Hole number 5 is a par 3. She hits off the T making the green. Yirong says, “Nice shot, want a beer?” (Yes, he was drinking at 8:45 in the morning but that is another story for another blog). Jordan has a good laugh and proceeds to drain an 8 footer for 🐥, now she is +1 after 5.

Hole 6 & 7 were both par. 8 was a bogey, back to +2. 9 par.

10 was a par 3 which B hit into the green side bunker. The flag stick was about 6 feet from the edge of the green and beyond the hole it was downhill. This was a very very dangerous shot. The only way that it could work was for her to chip out of the sandbox, land it on the rough and have it pounce a few times with just right amount of backspin to slow it down and have it land and stop next to the hole. Her executions was a “12 out of 10” to quote cousin Robbie from Australia. The ball stopped within 2 feet for an easy tap in par. Still +2 and in about 18th place at this point.

11 was a par.

Twelve was a par 3 and Jordan missed a three foot putt for bogey. Now +3 and in 38th place. To be fair, 20 something of the girls had T’d it up yet so that number is a bit misleading as the leaderboard was carrying them at even.

13 was a par.

14 was a par 4. Jordan was on in 2 and drained a 20 footer for 🐥. Now +2 and back to 17th place.

15 was a par 3. Jordan landed the ball about 15 feet from the hole but she was above it as it pitched down. Caddy Carl gave her a perfect read. She started it rolling and it made a beautiful arc and tracked back into to sink a second 🐥 in a row. Now B was at +1, tied for 7th place and only two strokes off the leader. She was walking with the swagger that those who have seen her get on a roll know (Mark Stewart in Bethpage in June and Jerry and Selwyn in Torrey Pines especially) and it looked like she was going to make a run for it. Then came 16……

16 is a par 4. Jordan’s drive was long and straight and ended on an uphill lie. She had a tough shot but not terribly hard to get to the green. Now, to explain the hole a bit, to the left of the green was water hazard, to the right was open for 100 yards. Basically anywhere that she hit 190 degrees in any direction (including backwards) would probably have resulted in a par, possibly another birdie. Unfortunately, her aim was a bit off (the ball had to curve left on contact because of the uphill lie so massive compensation to the right was necessary) and the ball went swimming forcing her to drop a ball. She chipped up and then triple putted for a triple bogey (a 7 on a par 4 for the non golfers) bringing her to +4.

17 & 18 were both pars ending a wild a crazy round that had some fantastic ball striking and some lights out putting.

Though Jordan was obviously not thrilled with where she finished the day, the golfers among you will understand what kind of playing you need to do to end a round at 4 over par that includes two 3 putts, 2 lost balls, two bogeys, one double bogeys, and one triple bogey! Yes, as always, this blogger shows his terrible bias once again but that is a Herculean accomplishment. As Coach Carl said last week, “You need the birds to win, “ this week she needed them to stay in the hunt and she carded 3 of them. The B is still in this thing and if she can keep it together actually has a shot. She is currently ahead of 85 of the 95 girls who started and plans to finish the rest of them off today.

That’s all for now. T time is at 11:07 and Yirong, Sarah & Dad will be Jordan’s cheering section. Thank you for all of the texts and emails, comments and likes. We are always humbled when we see the texts that are wondering why we have not yet posted anything on the blog. Keep em coming, that is why we write it.

https://tournaments.hjgt.org/Scoreboard?TournamentID=20328

Link above to the live leaderboard.

B and Coach & Caddy for the weekend Carl Rabito. Notice Coach is wearing Jordan’s TyrannosaurusB Logo’d hat. A special shout out to John Schleef for the creating and gifting that to Jordan. It gets lot of attention.

Jordan on the range with balloons in the background.

Jordan and Carl strategizing on the T box.

The video of the opening announcement.